Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) is the reconstruction of material concentrations of dielectric physical properties in the imaging domain by inversion of capacitance data from a capacitance sensor. Volume capacitance imaging or ECVT is the direct 3D reconstruction of volume concentration or physical properties in the imaging domain utilizing 3D features in the ECVT sensor design.
Dynamic ECVT is a technology that senses measured capacitances between a sensor plates to generate a whole volume image of the region. ECVT technology has been applied in providing images of objects moving through a pipe for example. ECVT has provided insights into multiphase flow phenomena in many industrial processes often in a combination of gas, liquid, and solid states, including pneumatic conveying, oil pipe lines, fluidized beds, bubble columns and many other chemical and biochemical processes. It may also be used for imaging biological processes and tissues.
Adaptive ECVT is an advanced technology that introduces a new dimension into 3D sensor design by applying voltages of different frequencies, amplitudes, and phases to capacitance plate segments. Adaptive sensors can provide a virtually infinite number of independent capacitance measurements of the flow field or imaging volume through which high resolution images can be obtained.
Data acquisition systems have been developed to sense capacitance measurements of capacitance sensors while rejecting parasitic capacitances inherit in ECT or ECVT sensors. Systems developed thus far are not flexible enough to cope with modern applications of capacitance tomography sensors.
The present invention relates to a data acquisition system that can increase imaging resolution through sensing capacitances from 3D conventional and adaptive capacitance sensors. In the preferred embodiment, interactive control of the data acquisition system allows for the zooming and focusing of the imaging resolution toward a region in the imaging domain (e.g., one of the voids). This is achieved through a unique design and set of features explained below.